1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic typewriter system for processing text data entered from an electronic typewriter.
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional electronic typewriter, text data prerared by the operator are stored in an internal memory, and are printed charatcter by character or line by line, in response to a print command entered from a keyboard or the like. Thus, in case of preparing a new text by editing texts stored for example in a memory, the text is printed to a necessary position, then replenished by the entry from the keyboard of the electronic typewriter, and is completed by printing from the memory in a printing mode.
Recently, there is developed an electronic typewriter system in which text editing is conducted by displaying text data, prepared in the electronic typewriter, on external display means such as a cathod ray tube display unit. In such electronic typewriter system, the file retrieval of a user memory is conducted in the following manner. At first a menu is displayed on the cathode ray tube display, and a file retrieval command is entered from the keyboard of the electronic typewriter. Then an access is made to an external memory, such as a floppy disk, constituting a user memory, and a list of file titles is displayed on said cathode ray tube. Then the user enters a command for selecting a desired file, from the keyboard. In response, an access is made to the corresponding file, and the content is displayed on the cathode ray tube. Then the user initiates the editing operation of the file, after confirming that the selected file is a disired one.
Some of such electronic typewriter systems are capable of preparing a particular list from information of individuals stored in an internal or external memory, based on data of age entered from the keyboard, thereby efficiently printing direct mails.
In such conventional electronic typewriter systems, the entry of a stop code, for setting a manual input mode, executes the printing up to a character code immediately preceding said stop code and automatically the manual input mode (typewrter mode). However, in such case, if a selector switch on the electronic typewriter is positioned at a character-by-character (C/C) mode, said printing operation is executed immediately so that the advantage of the elctronic typewriter system is significantly reduced. Though it is possible to connect text data, entered from the electronic typewriter in the typewriter mode, to text data that have been processed prior to the entry of the stop code, it may not be able to provide a neat document to follow the text data entered in the typewriter mode with already entered text data after the typewriter mode is cancelled since the positions of word wrap and justification functions instructed before said mode cancellation are inevitably displaced.
Also in conventional electronic typewriter systems, the electronic typewriter and an external display unit have to be connected through an interface such as RS-232C, and such connecting function has been available only in high-classed electronic typewriters. Consequently low-priced ones cannot allow text editing on the display so that the efficiency of text preparation becomes very low. Also in the connection through such interface, each equipment has to be equipped with a terminal for the interface, so that the equipment has to be inevitably large.
Also in the conventional electronic typewriter systems, a change in the line space or in the print form of text data stored in a text memory requires the entry of a command defined in each software. Thus, in a system not having such command, the print form is not easy to change and requires the addition of a new memory area for such commands, thus complicating the system structure and increasing the system cost.
Also the conventional electronic typewriter systems are incapable of data communication, unless a print obtained on the electronic typewriter itself is transmitted for example by a facsimile.
Furthermore, in the conventional electronic typewriter systems, the age data to be entered from the keyboard in relation to the personal information stored in the external memory have to be renewed every year, and the operator is required to recall the information on the display and renew the age data after the birthday of each individual.
Furthermore, in the conventional electronic typewriter systems, if a file editing is interrupted for some reason and the retrieval of another file is conducted, the original file can only be recalled through the above-explained procedure, so that the efficiency of file retrieval is significantly deteriorated.
Furthermore, in case of storing a mail list, for example consisting of names and dates, in the text memory of the conventional electronic typewriter system, all the personal data have to be stored so that there is required a large memory capacity for storing the mailing data.